Getting new people involved

Silicon Valley, from my limited experience with it, is way closer to reality than any of us would like to admit (source: also a programmer). :P

Keleth --

A welcome e-mail is one thing. Perhaps if someone has gone a week and has not posted you could do a follow up email that provides some pointers. Maybe links to a couple popular threads in some of the non-gaming forums. Identifies the 3 newest games waiting for more players.. You could either code this up (making the thread information hard) or you could hand-curate it and just have the follow-up sent every Sunday evening (and if someone has: 1 registered, 2 not posted and 3 not yet received the follow up) they'd get the follow up?

From a marketing perspective, they're at the top of the funnel, and in order to have them go deeper in the funnel they may need a reminder or call to action. Or they may be overwhelmed at the idea of PbP. Or something. If there are some fun public games you could have a game of the week (or month) or something and suggest that folks new to PbP could read one of the public games that's going well as a taste of what's on offer for them -- if they just got involved. :)

THIS. This sounds right. You got then to click, to create a profile, to sacrifice their email address. Give them the candy.

It's been dead a bit, but if you guys remember me working on a new layout for the landing and home pages, I'm hoping to do just that. But yes, I know the design is way subpar.

I think knowing what to do and where to go would help more in a way. When you're making an account maybe an automated message or email to the FAQ area. Some people prefer to lurk and look around at games that are public before they jump in others are more curious so they start PMing people questions or just post they want in on a game when they're new... Is there a way to do the opposite of the inactive Zzz icon so we can tell when people have created their account in under a month maybe?

The ratio of people who want to play games versus people who are willing to run them is a constant issue with the hobby. I don't think anyone has ever been able to solve this issue. Maybe there could games created that are only for people new to gaming, or play by post?

Another aspect, lurking, might just be people who don't really know what Play-By-Post is all about.

What if in the FAQ, there was a link to a completed game that anyone could see? Character creation, OOC comments, the run of play? Maybe it doesn't need to be a whole game, but a few pages of the games might help.

And perhaps a 'highly active' flag if they've posted more than x times in the past month? That would allow those new members to know who to talk if they have any questions
I like this idea - and it might be easy enough to simply have a checkbox or two on the game creation page. Eg:

[ ] RPG good for newbies
[ ] PbP good for newbies

(may want to find a better way to word it)

And be able to be notified when a new game matches one of those requirements. That would also give those veteran gamers who don't want a new player to make it clear up front that it's a more advanced game

I'm not sure I like a "highly active" flag, but I've brought up a few times adding gamification to the site, and activity would give people higher levels. This should accomplish the same thing, while also showing new to the site. But I do like the idea of a "New member" flag, one that someone could turn off before the initial time period expires, as someone could be a PbP veteran but new to the site.
I like this idea too. Like many cons have for games, being able to pick if a game welcomes people with no experience in the system (will teach), experience preferred (help given), or experience required (expected to have rules/supplies/etc), and a second flag for if a game is good for people new to PbP (would require the will teach flag).

Maybe it's somewhere, or maybe on a wish list, but is there a big list of games with openings that aren't invite only? Cause that would be something that a newcomer should see.

(Cross-posting with the Mumble Server! thread)


Maybe have a regularly scheduled Gamers-Plane training session (once a month?) that people could be aware of and join in (to learn or to teach).